Schools to Fully Reopen Despite the Ongoing Pandemic in South Africa

Schools to Fully Reopen Despite the Ongoing Pandemic in South Africa

Starting on Monday, students in South Africa will return to school full time. This comes with immediate changes to the Alert Level 1 Covid-19 regulations. These regulations include reduced quarantine time to just 7 days if testing positive with symptoms. The social distancing of one meter in schools has been removed.

The drop in Covid-19 regulations is a huge step ahead for school children, as now they will be able to attend school full time. Students have suffered during the pandemic; students are losing social skills, they are behind in reading and math proficiency, and we are seeing a rise in teen pregnancy as well. The continuation of education in South Africa is on the forefront. Education MEC Debbie Schafer said “The plan is that schools should be ready to receive all learners from Monday next week. This will give them time to make all the necessary arrangements. I also ask that the issue of mask-wearing for children be reconsidered. I have received a number of requests from parents in that regard.”

Premier Alan Winde is calling for an end to lock down entirely. However Winde is still concerned that there is no clarity to ending the national state of disaster. He is calling on President Ramaphosa to come forward with a plan to move on from lockdown.

“In October last year, I called on the president to table a ‘road-map’ that would set out a clear process to end this very extreme measure.Since then, our health data has made it clear that we have reached an ‘endemic’ stage, with significant immunity in our country. This means that we can respond through existing public health measures,” Winde said.

By: Alexandria Gregson